


Washington, Death Count

by Duscara



Series: Kinnis Universe Tetralogy [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Giant Male, Road Trip, Serial Killer, Tiny Person, Tiny people, giant man - Freeform, male giant, murderous rampage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:14:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28363728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duscara/pseuds/Duscara
Summary: The sequel to Hopeful Future that focuses on Marco Conrad, the villain of the final chapter of that story.Marco wants revenge against the Newman family, but his master is making him attack communities of Kinnises, the species that Edo is.Is Marco killing people because his master wants him to? Or does he kill because he wants to?
Series: Kinnis Universe Tetralogy [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1913272





	1. Trial

**Author's Note:**

> This is rated Mature, but despite what the series says, the previous three stories in this universe are okay for younger audiences.
> 
> The rating is for VIOLENCE, NOT SEXUAL CONTENT!

As Dawn Newman and her mother, Sara, reported Marco Conrad for kidnapping, assault, and attempted murder, he was still reeling from his loss back at 668 New Castle Lane in Zaslas. He felt that it should not have been possible for him to lose against someone with so much less money. In his hideout, he walked to the helmet that had set off Dawn’s danger sense, put it on, and telepathically said, “Forgive me, master, for I have failed you!” 

A voice that was familiar to him replied, “Do not worry. It is merely a small setback. Your new mission is to get the attention of the federal government, make demands to them that would benefit both of us, and threaten to destroy Capitol Hill and the White House if they refuse. Maybe you should also make threats towards the US Supreme Court Building if the threats to destroy Capitol Hill and the White House aren’t enough. Do you know what would get their attention and not the attention of a state government?” 

“Causing chaos near post offices?” 

“… I would suggest you rampage on interstate roads. The federal government is responsible for those as well.” 

“Got it, Master!” 

“Before we end this contact, I would suggest getting others that can do things such as repair vehicles, heal wounds, shoot accurately, and someone strong and fit to swing melee weapons.” 

“I understand. I already have ideas for who would fit each of those roles. I’ll locate them and get them on my team.” 

The contact ended, but before he could leave, he heard police arrive. Suspecting the girl he had fought reported him, he did not want to be convicted. He rushed to his all in one computer he had in his warehouse, accessed his father’s bank account that he overheard the password for, and transferred a million dollars to his bank account, which was not much to his father because he was part of the 1% and had a net worth of at least 3 billion dollars. He didn’t know exactly how much money his father had. He decided to hide from the police he knew wanted to arrest him. His best attempts to hide were not very good, though, so they found him, handcuffed him with his arms behind his back, and arrested him. 

It had been a couple of months since his arrest, and Marco managed to get the money in cash. The time came for his criminal trial to take place in September, which was surprising given that it was just a couple of months after his arrest. The United States’ legal system was often quite a lot slower than that, likely to prevent wrongful conviction or acquittal, yet white people got acquitted far more often than people of other backgrounds. However, before Marco’s trial, he figured out who the jurors would be and bribed them to say he was not guilty. To make it less suspicious, he also bribed the prosecutor to not reveal all of the evidence of his crimes. 

The jury trial took longer than he had expected due to his impatience, but the time came for his verdict to be declared. He crossed his fingers behind his back for being declared not guilty, and with the bribes, that happened. Enough of the jurors accepted his bribes for him to be acquitted of the charges, though there were still some jurors that did not accept the bribes and decided to see which of the lawyers they agreed with, and some planned to declare him guilty because he attempted a bribe. 

Now that he was off the hook for his most recent crimes, he took taxis and buses back to his base and contacted four people he had heard of that would fit the roles his master wanted. 

The first one he contacted was a former wrestler who went too far and killed his opponent by snapping his neck. He had served a 20 year imprisonment before, but recently reached the end of his term in April. By the time his trial had reached a conclusion, it was September 29th. As a wrestler, he was known as Boulderfist, though his real name was Zak Hill. Marco did not know which one to use when referring to him. 

To fill the role of someone who was good with a gun, he got Ollie Wood, a gun nut who happened to live in Arizona, on his side. Arizona also supported gun rights more than any other state in the US. 

He wondered why he would need someone good with medicine, but then feared that he would be reported to cops if he went to a hospital and there was a wanted poster of him in plain sight. He decided to contact Tyrell Dodson, a former US Military medic that deserted and got away with it, and got him on his side. He had a steady hand, which made him better than most with a gun while also helping with being a medic. 

For the role of a mechanic, he got Gunner Booker, who was better with guns than most as well, though not as good as Ollie. The reason he was good with guns was because guns were mechanical. He was about as good as Tyrell. 

He had gotten them all on his side, but he needed to drive around the continental US to pick them up. He went to his favorite vehicle he owned, a five seat cargo van he had gotten modified. He had added a light rig on the roof, radar detectors, a radar jammer, a laser jammer, a special cover for the front and back license plates to deflect light and prevent cameras from reading the license plates, tinted glass dark enough so no one could make out his face on the windows, front windscreen, and rear windscreen, off-road tires, steel plating on the roof and sides of the car, a sharp steel ram welded in front of the license plate and to the sides of the front tires, steel spikes covering the sides of the van, longer spikes in front of the rear view mirrors that faced diagonally outward and forward, and a steel grid in front of the front windscreen curved in its shape far enough in front of it to not interfere with the windshield wipers. He started the van and drove out, heading for Arizona, which was where Ollie was last seen…


	2. Teambuilding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco goes around the United States, picking up the people in his group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First AO3 upload of 2021!

After driving for a while, trying to stay under the radar for the moment, he found the Wood house somewhere in Arizona. To his disappointment, no one answered the door. He waited for an hour, and Ollie returned home from work. Marco was still in his vehicle, not wanting to risk being run over, and once he noticed him, the gun nut said, “I remember your voice. You’re the son of a really rich man, and you want me on your side, don’t you?” 

Marco replied, “That’s correct. You’re great with guns, and I have plenty in the trunk. Join me, and you can become part of something greater than yourself!” 

“What could be greater than me?” 

“Perhaps… a group whose leader contacts his servants with magic helmets? Or… a mission that allows you to kill anyone that is not an ally of yours?” 

“Sign me up! We will preserve the legacy of the Founding Fathers!” 

“Onward we go!” 

He decided to get Boulderfist next. Marco asked, “How far could he have gotten from the jail he was in?” 

“It’s been… about five or six months. He could probably go from coast to coast twice if he used a plane.” 

“Well, I’m going to stop and ask him where he is.” 

Marco drove off the road, which was not a problem for his modified van. Once he was sure no part of it would touch anyone on the road, he called him on his phone. 

Boulderfist said, “Hello? Who is this? Why have you bothered me?” 

“It’s me, Marco Conrad. The guy that contacted you a while back.” 

“I remember. What do you want?” 

“Where are you? Where do you live?” 

“I live in Springfield.” 

“That’s a common name. What state do you live in?” 

“I live in Springfield, Texas. I’m there right now.” 

“I’ll go there, then!” 

“It was nice talking to you.” 

“I’d like to see you in person!” 

After that, Marco hung up, waited for an opening on the interstate road he was next to, then drove back onto it. 

After less time driving than when he went from his base to where Ollie was, he arrived at the Hill residence. He rang the doorbell, and Zak came out. He had an athletic body, had very short hair, had a beard and mustache just as short that connected to his hair. His outfit was yellow tank top, red and white striped shorts, and black boxing boots. He realized that it would be easy for people to recognize him, as his face was recognizable when people recorded him deviating from the script of a match from 1999, where he killed his opponent. He had already cleaned the blood from his outfit, even though he used his strength and environment instead of weapons. He went back inside and came out in a pink hoodie and matching long pants. 

Marco said, “I’m the guy who called you earlier, wanting to recruit you.” 

Zak replied, “That’s what you look like?” 

“Yes. Got a problem? I’m really rich, so I can kill you and not get punished.” 

“I-I didn’t need that remark, but I’ll join you!” 

“Ollie, go in the back seats. Zak, sit in the front passenger seat. I’ll drive.” 

“Please, call me Boulderfist. I prefer to remember those days than bury that fatal incident.” 

They got in their seats, and they drove off towards Boston, where Tyrell was. 

Driving from eastern Texas to Boston took quite a while. They stayed at motels for each night they weren’t there. They had to stop for gas multiple times, and they bought a lot of food and drinks at the convenience stores at the gas stations. Marco used ATMs to get his father’s money to pay for those things. 

Eventually, they made it to where Tyrell was last seen. He was not there, so Marco got out and called him. 

Marco asked, “Where are you?” 

“Oh, shit! I forgot about you! I’ll go back to Boston!” 

After another day, he returned, and he saw Marco. 

“Join me to become part of a grand design!” Marco said. 

“… Sure, I guess,” replied the former military medic. 

Marco said, “Ollie, get in the middle back seat. Tyrell, choose either the left or right back seat.” 

Tyrell chose the left seat. Marco said, “Onward we go to Gunner!” 

He didn’t know where Gunner was, so needed to call him. 

“This is Marco Conrad, the guy who called you requesting you join me.” 

“I remember you.” 

“Where are you?” 

“I’m in Philadelphia, Pennsyl-” 

“Look, I know what state that city is in. That’s where I’m going next, to pick you up. Stay in the city.” 

“I understand.” 

Driving south near the east coast of the US was far shorter than the drive from Texas to Boston. They still needed to stop at motels to sleep, gas stations to get gas as well as food and drinks, but they arrived sooner than they expected. 

Marco called Gunner and said to him, “We’re now in Philadelphia.” 

“I’ll just wander around the city and see if I find your car.” 

“It’s a cargo van with steel armor, spikes, a ram, and a grid in front of the windshield. You won’t be able to see inside the windows.” 

“I’m starting my search now.” 

“Good luck!” 

After six hours, he had found them. Marco said, “Join me!” 

“I wanted to join the heir to one of the richest companies in the world anyway!” 

“Get in the back right seat.” 

“Why that one?” 

“The rest are taken. I’m driving.” 

“I understand.” 

The helmet that Marco used to talk with his master vibrated. That meant his master wanted to talk to him through it Marco put it on, and the voice of his master said, “Now that you have a full party, go rampage on interstate roads. Feel free to use the weapons you have in the trunk to kill people. Once the federal government notices you, demand that they make a law or executive order that makes it so the tiny freaks like the one you used to own are treated like pests that should be killed. If they don’t listen, threaten to destroy Capitol Hill and the White House. If they still don’t listen, follow through with your threats.” 

“I understand, Master.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got the idea for Boulderfist's outfit from the 2009 Wii game Punch-Out!! Specifically, I based it on the training gear Little Mac wears in combination with the World Circuit outfit he also uses for Title Defense.


	3. Game Time Started

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Marco assembled his party, he starts killing people on interstate roads to get the attention of the FBI.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't know why I chose that name for my chapter, look up Backstroke of the West. Then you'll know.

Now that Marco led Boulderfist aka Zak Hill, Ollie Wood, Tyrell Dodson, and Gunner Booker all on his side and with him, he could start getting the attention of the federal government. However, before that, he needed to arm each of them and himself. He pulled over and drove off the road. 

“Alright, everyone! I have plenty of weapons in the trunk. You each get three to have on you. I also get three to have on me.” 

Boulderfist replied, “I can fight well unarmed,” 

Marco said, “But since you’re strong and fit, some of these weapons will be good for you to have.” 

They looked through the trunk, which had a lot of weapons, such as machetes, aluminum baseball bats, the baseball bat he bolted chains and mending plates to, frying pans, chainsaws, flamethrowers, assault rifles, machine guns that used bullets, shotguns, a double barreled shotgun, as well as ammo for the guns and extra gas meant for the chainsaws and flamethrowers. 

Boulderfist said, “I’ll use a frying pan, a machete, and an aluminum baseball bat. I’m strong and fit enough to wield those weapons well.” 

Marco said, “I thought you said you could fight well unarmed.” 

“I can, but weapons deal more damage than even my unarmed strikes.” 

Ollie said, “I’m gonna use an assault rifle, a shotgun, and a machine gun. Can I take the ammo for those?” Marco nodded. 

Following this, Tyrell said, “I’ll use an aluminum bat, a chainsaw, and a flamethrower. May I use the gas for those?” 

Before Marco could answer, Gunner said, “I also want to have weapons identical to the ones Tyrell will use.” 

Marco replied, “You’ll have to split the gas for the weapons, and the van needs gas more than your weapons do. I will use a double barreled shotgun, that black bat with chains and mending plates, but I won’t have a third weapon. I want to see if we’ll find anything useful. With the shotgun shells, I’ll get about two thirds of them, while Ollie will get the remainder.” 

“Hey! Who put you in charge?!” Ollie said. 

“I did. I’m the leader, as I organized this… party. Besides, my special shotgun takes twice as much ammo as yours for each shot, Ollie,” Marco replied. 

Now that the five men were all armed, Marco said, “Boulderfist, get in the front passenger seat next to me. Ollie, get in the middle back seat. Tyrell, get in the left seat, next to Ollie. Gunner, go into the right seat in the back.” 

They complied, and as Marco closed the door with everyone in the car, he said, “You three in the back, feel free to move around to get near windows so you can shoot out open windows. Buckle up, at least for now!” 

They all buckled up, and once he did so as well, he drove off. He decided to use the GPS feature of his car to find an interstate road. There was one, and he tried to go to it using the directions. However, a local police car noticed the van, which had multiple modifications that were illegal under federal law, as well as multiple modifications that certain states had outlawed. The cops inside gave chase, and Marco realized they were chasing him when he checked the mirrors. 

One of the officers said, “Pull over! You have illegal modifications on your van!” 

Marco ignored them, going faster to run from them. 

Ollie asked, “May I shoot the cops?” 

Marco replied, “NO! Not yet! We’re not in the right area to attract the attention of the FBI!” 

He drove off the road, and the cop car tried to follow, but couldn’t go very far off-road. They were free from that car chase, but still were not in the right area. 

Marco eventually made it to an interstate road, where he got on from off the road. His GPS confirmed that he was indeed on one. 

Marco said, “We’re on an interstate road. Now you can kill the other drivers and cause a lot of crashes, Ollie. But roll down the windows first. I don’t want my windows to be damaged.” 

“Got it, boss!” 

The gun nut pulled out an assault rifle, loaded it, then took aim at the drivers to their left. He fired and hit the person in the passenger seat, spilling their blood in the vehicle. Before the driver could comprehend that the person next to him was murdered, he was also shot to death, and without a driver, the car crashed, causing many more vehicles to crash like a chain reaction, all of which at least injured those involved even with seat belts and airbags. Ollie saw for himself that just one car losing its driver on an interstate road can cause plenty of collisions. 

Marco turned on the light rig to attempt to interfere with the other drivers. It mostly affected the ones going in the opposite direction, causing crashes, injuries, and even death there. He did not think too much about the fact that he was now a serial killer if he was not one before. 

After many hours on the road, Marco realized that they needed food. “Where do you guys want to get lunch?” 

Gunner asked, “How about IBH?” 

Tyrell said, “Yeah, that’d be nice!” 

Marco replied, “…That is a breakfast place, but we can eat lunch there, too. We’re going there!” 

They went on an exit off the road they were on, and after more driving, they found an IBH location. 

Boulderfist asked, “What does ‘IBH’ stand for?” 

Marco replied, “International Breakfast House.” 

Once they parked, they put their weapons in their seats so they would remember who sat where. They ordered, ate, and paid for a lot of food, and they decided to take some of it with them despite it not lasting very long without a fridge, which they did not have. 

They got back on the road, drove back onto an interstate road, then started causing lethal collisions by killing drivers again. There were no police to monitor them because stopping on a highway would be a mistake. This worked in the five men’s favor. 

Ollie did not count all of the people his actions lead to the death of, but he caused another sequence of collisions like from earlier in the day. He did not consider the possibility that some of them survived the crashes they were in. 

After about another nine hours, they needed somewhere to sleep. Marco spotted a motel and shouted, “We’re sleeping there tonight!” 

His party did not argue, not knowing what he was capable of or what he was willing to do to get what he wanted. They had some fear of him, knowing from that day on that he was a serial killer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IBH is supposed to be IHOP.
> 
> Kinnises will appear next time, but even I would be opposed to how Marco interacts with them in that chapter, and I'm the writer...


	4. Killer "Giants"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco and his party find and kill Kinnises secretly living in a department store.
> 
> They also rob it at the same time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: There is a part where Marco crushes a Kinnis under his foot!
> 
> I don't like it, but I would not put it past him to do that.

The next day, when Marco and his party woke up in the motel, the leader was tempted to rob the motel, but he decided against it because they wouldn’t have much money. 

Once the other four men, who were Zak Hill aka Boulderfist, Ollie Wood, Gunner Booker, and Tyrell Dodson, all woke up, Marco said, “Now that we’re rested, let’s go back on the interstates!” 

They got back to their van, and Marco started it up again. He turned on the radio in an attempt to block out the noise from the gunshots, but as Ollie started shooting after switching seats with Tyrell, the gunshots were far louder than the music on the radio. 

Suddenly, the helmet Marco brought with him vibrated. Marco knew that meant his master had a message. He said, “Boudlerfist, switch seats with me and drive.” 

The former wrestler said, “O...kay?” 

They swapped speeds while cruising above the speed limit to keep up with the other drivers, and Marco put it on. He got a telepathic message from his master saying, “Your actions have already earned you the attention of the FBI. For now, I have a way for you to get off their trail.” 

“What would that be, master?” 

“You remember those tiny freaks with body parts from mice and dragonflies, like the one you used to own before you left him to die?” 

“Yeah… That bitch who hit my dick calls him her ‘little brother’ so I have another reason to go after her.” 

“Yes. Those. There are three communities of them I want you to go after. Or rather, I think you would want to go after.” 

“Where are they?” 

“One is underneath a bowling alley. Another is under the floors and inside the walls of a Bullseye, a department store chain. A third is in a forest, where they’re trying to hide from humans like you. All are supposed to be secret, and all are located within the continental United States.” 

“Am I allowed to kill all of them in each?” 

“I’d prefer you expose them to the public, then kill some of them. This should make people think of them as pests and not as sentient creatures.” 

“Ugh. I hate the thought that humans share this world with another species. May I rob the Bullseye?” 

“Go ahead.” 

After days of searching every bowling alley, Bullseye, and forest he came across, he found the Bullseye where Kinnises had a proper society. 

A worker looked at them and asked, “New customers? We’re having a sale!” 

Marco replied, “We’re… uh… pest control.” 

“Are you going to spray poison?” 

He laughed, then said, “We’re… more advanced.” 

He had brought the helmet he used to talk with his master, and his master said, “Put on the helmet.” 

Marco did so, and he felt a lot of power surging through his body. 

Marco said, “Now, let me handle this.” 

His natural voice was there, but there was another voice overlaying it. That voice sounded far more sinister. 

Marco started floating, and everyone there immediately realized something was up, even his allies. There was a glow coming from in front of the palm of his hand. From it, he fired a powerful blast at the floor, hoping it would make a hole, but it did not due to being an energy blast. 

For the Kinnises secretly living in that Bullseye, the day started as normal. It all took a turn for the worse when they heard an unfamiliar voice say that he was pest control. Expecting poison, they were shocked at the fact that a blast came from their ceiling, which was under the floor of the Bullseye from the human perspective. What shocked them most was the fact that it froze Kinnises solid, preventing them from moving. 

Marco, who they did not know the name of, fired more blasts. Once four blasts were fired, they went into a panic, and their voices were able to be heard by the humans above, patron, worker, and felon alike. 

“Now to take a risk,” he said, and he fired a homing missile out of the palm of his hand, which made a hole in it that was immediately patched up. The shock wave of the powerful explosion of that missile when it hit the floor killed multiple shoppers. It also opened a hole that revealed that there were indeed tiny people living beneath the floor of the store. The explosion killed all of them as well, but some living ones walked into being visible when the shock wave had subsided. 

Marco used fired another missile at the walls, revealing more tiny people inside them. He glared at the workers and said, “Give me food or drink, and let me have it for free.” 

“W-why should we listen to you?” 

“Would you rather have these blasts be directed at you?!” 

“R-right this way, sir!” 

He found the food and drinks, and he stole them. One of the less experienced workers made a joke and said, “We’re having a robbery sale! Everything is free!” 

Marco turned towards the surviving shoppers, who were now witnesses to his crime, and said, “Don’t you dare take my food!” 

After that, he fired a third missile at the wall, which killed a lot of Kinnises, and surviving ones once again walked into being visible. He managed to grab a Kinnis man who survived the explosion by being far from it but was panicking from inside the walls, break his legs, throw him on the ground, and step on him, crushing him under his foot. 

Ollie yanked the helmet off. Marco screamed in pain, then said, “Oh, it hurts! It hurts! Why did my master combine those five kinds of blast?! The recoil from that and its extreme cold hurt! And the missiles dig through my hand to fire! WHY?!” 

They heard police sirens, so they ran to their van and fled the scene. 

“Alright, what happened here?” One of the officers asked. 

“T-there were tiny people living in the walls and under the floors of this building. Some man claiming to be pest control came by, put on a weird helmet, and somehow fired blasts of energy from the palm of his hand!” 

“Let me let you in on a little something: The public has known about those tiny people since at least 2007, when many photos of them surfaced on MyFace and Fakebook. Legally, there was an amendment to the Constitution passed granting them the same rights as a human, but we’ve had trouble enforcing it, and it’s a low priority across the country, especially in states that lean towards being politically conservative.” 

“So… since he killed at least one… does that make him a murderer?” 

“Yes!” 

“And he robbed us!” 

“So that’s three criminal charges at least: Destruction of property, murder, and robbery. Did anyone take a photo of his face? Or the face of his accomplice, if he had one?” 

“There were four. Accomplices, we mean. We took photos of them. There’s probably a group photo of all five of them.” 

Unaware that they had earned multiple stars on their wanted ranking, Marco and his party went back to killing things on interstate roads on the way to the bowling alley where Kinnises lived underneath it. Ollie had directly shot drivers of five more cars to death, and many more vehicles crashed because of his actions. Once Marco got back on an exit to a more normal road, he saw that there were multiple police vehicles after him. The helmet indicated that Marco’s master wanted to talk, so he put it on. 

“You’ve showed yourself as an enemy to the tiny freaks. They should fear humans in general now. Abandon the one in the forest for now, focus on the one in the bowling alley, and make sure the cops don’t catch you!” 

“I understand, master.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How will the country react to this news? How will the Newman family react? Tune in next week to find out!
> 
> The society of Kinnises under floor and inside the walls of a Bullseye location is supposed to be like the Nomes Trilogy, aka the Bromeliad Trilogy. I haven’t read any of those books.
> 
> Bullseye itself is based on the real-world department store chain Target. I frequent one such location.


	5. Keeping Up With the Newmans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How does the Newman family react to the news of Marco attacking that Bullseye with Kinnises in it?
> 
> What is up with unnatural dreams?
> 
> And since school started back up in August, what do Dawn and her mom do with Edo?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason this chapter exists is because I wanted a chapter to show how the Newman family took the news of what happened at the Bullseye location Marco attacked. Also, you should get the reference in the name.
> 
> I also wanted a bit of a break from the intensity.

After the news covered the events that happened at that particular Bullseye, Dawn Newman, still vigilant for the possibility that Marco could strike again, was very upset. 

“No… Marco… He killed an entire community. This is all my fault! I shouldn’t have hit him in that spot!” 

Sara, her mother, said, “Edo’s species will survive. I’m sure of it. That can’t be the only large community of them.” 

Edo himself, who mostly spent his days on the alPhone Dawn gave him, looking at cute art online or playing two iconic mobile games, which were Fruit Slicer and Pissy Parakeets, said, “If he tries to take me again, you’ll defend me, big sis. Won’t you? Won’t you help, Mom?” 

The latter replied, “If it came down to that, I’d put my life on the line for either of you. Sorry, Edo, but if I could only save you or Dawn, I’d choose my daughter.” 

Edo started crying, but she said, “I don’t think it will come to that kind of cruel choice. I think that if it happens, it’ll be either I defend both of my kids or I flee like a coward.” 

Dawn started school back in August even though she was not doing too hot. When it was about to start, Sara and Dawn needed to figure out who should take Edo with them or if he would be fine by himself. Not trusting the others in school, Dawn suggested that her mother take him with her to work. She started wanting to hold her little brother close to her, feeling like they were becoming more dependent on each other. 

Dawn also started having unnatural dreams. In one nightmare, she was bound to a roller coaster by steel chains, and she saw that it went very high up. There were raised portions of land so the track could go as high as possible, well over 300 feet from ground level. Once it made it to the top, she found that it went very far underground, and it went very fast as it went sharply down. Even though she tried to open her eyes outside of the dream, she couldn’t because she was wearing something over her eyes. She felt a lot of G-force, and eventually stopped feeling the pain. She looked down at herself and realized that in the dream, she was dead. She decided to possess her own corpse, and the pain from far too much G-force for anyone in the entire world to survive, even for an instant, was lessened. The track went upward in some special way she didn’t know the name of three times total. Once the ride was over, she woke up, though instead of moving upright, she just opened her eyes suddenly. What she was wearing did not touch her eyes, but she took it off and realized that everything was okay for the night. She was glad it was just a dream, though it didn’t feel like a dream she would have normally. 

In another, she was in an iconic setting from an iconic 1991 video game. As she went on, there was more disturbing sights, then it switched to the water being on fire, with incendiary explosions the other way. She saw a figure in a suit of full body armor and a helmet quite similar to the one Marco used approach her while floating. Her danger sense went off even though it was a dream, so she ran from the figure. It caught up to her, but she woke up before anything bad happened. When she woke up, she checked her body, even taking off her shirt, to confirm that. 

The following night, she was going through what looked like a snowy and icy world, but the sky turned red and red rain that stained her clothes came down. She realized that in the dream, she was wearing a green hoodie, jeans, and boots. The figure from the previous nightmare showed up and said, “Fight me.” 

She tried to punch him, but he kept warping to behind her. After a while, it stopped when he grabbed her arm and tried to rip it off. Her danger sense did not go off this time, but it did not matter, as she was still alive with all of her body parts in the real world. He said, “You will learn to fear this mockery of a heroine!” 

After he said that, her alarm to wake her up went off. She used a loud sound that was trademarked by a company that made sound systems. She needed a lot of help after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I referenced Sonic.EXE.
> 
> And Dawn's alarm is the THX Deep Note.
> 
> The roller coaster nightmare Dawn had was based on NerdCubed on YouTube. In 2014, he made a Challenge video for the “Red Mist” challenge in RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. The goal was to make a roller coaster that turned anyone and everyone that went on it into a red mist. He used the roller coaster that went the highest, but he raised the land to make it go higher. It also went as low as it could go, and it used the “helix up” track structure three times. It made it to the end, which he was not sure if it would. It had an Intensity rating of 56.15, and its Nausea rating was 31.94! For reference, an Intensity rating of 7 is risky, and 10 means that it should probably be scrapped. Due to all of that, its Excitement rating was 0.05 because the people on it were suffering too much to be having any fun. Apparently, for every 1 unit of Intensity over 10, Excitement suffers penalties. Its top speed was about 1/3 of the speed of sound! The highest positive vertical G force it experienced was 95.8 G’s! For reference, the highest recorded G-force that someone survived was by Kenny Bräck, and it was a peak of 214 G-force for about a second. I assume he would be in better physical condition than most to survive that. Due to that, it would make sense for 95.8 G’s to kill Dawn, who is physically weak, in a dream. If she experienced that outside of the dream, she would actually die, no matter how brief that time was.
> 
> Who was the figure in Dawn's nightmares? What connection do they have with the helmet Marco has that gave him powers? You will learn some of it by the end, though not all of it.


	6. Strike!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco and his party find and attack the community of Kinnises under a bowling alley.

With the police still chasing Marco’s party, he decided that he wanted to go after the Kinnis community underneath a bowling alley. He stopped at every bowling alley he came across, and he eventually found it after many days of searching, which also had refueling, stopping for food, and stopping for sleep. 

A worker there noticed his party, did not recognize that they were felons and accomplices, and said, “You’re new. Wanna bowl some games?” 

Wanting to have fun bowling before pouncing on the Kinnises, Marco replied, “Sure!” 

All five of them played against each other. Zak, also known as Boulderfist, got 242 points. Marco got 151. Gunner got 150. Tyrell got 121. Ollie got 120. 

Right as they were planning what to do after their first game had ended, a patron saw a wanted poster with their faces on it, and the one who wore the helmet had an identical helmet to one of them. He shouted, “It’s them! The men on the wanted poster! And Boulderfist is one of them!” 

He tried to flee, but Marco put the helmet on, wanting to get access to his master’s power. His master said, “Let him go. The cops are already after you anyway. You’ll just have to act fast to not get arrested.” 

Taking control of Conrad, his master made a strange sound. After the sound had ended, he charged up a blast, then fired one that was somehow both extremely hot and cold enough to freeze targets in place, even in the air. More Kinnises were living under the bowling alley, just as his master had said. They were not only under the lanes, but were also under the area behind it, where patrons were supposed to be. 

Like before, there were multiple blasts fired before they realized what had happened, which sent them into panic. 

He fired more blasts of energy at them, and was going to fire some explosive blasts, but decided against it because his allies were right there and would likely be killed by the explosion. He decided to fire charged blasts of all of the kinds of beam he could at the walls, and this made lots of holes due to firing three blasts at once. When he saw some Kinnises running away due to the holes in the walls and floor, he decided to try to crush them by throwing the bowling balls. He missed a lot of them because the balls were heavy, though he did manage to crush a Kinnis woman. He saw a young Kinnis boy get separated from the rest of the fleeing group, and Marco grabbed him in a way that showed he was hostile. He lifted him in front of his helmet, then pushed him against it. Everyone, including him, was confused. He realized, “Fuck! This helmet blocks the mouth! I can’t eat tiny people alive and maintain control at the same time!” 

The patrons were disturbed at how this murderer was willing to eat people alive, even if they were not human. He settled with crushing him in his hands. That caused the unfortunate boy’s blood to go everywhere, disgusting every witness there. 

Despite the terror the Kinnises there felt, some of them had formed a plan to use in case hostile humans found them. After some of them saw a terrifying anime series on a TV while hiding, where humans had to defend themselves against hostile giants by using waist mounted grappling hooks with rockets to climb them and kill them, they decided to imitate it despite it hitting very close to home with them in particular. 

A defense group armed that dual wielded blades in both hands flew out of the exposed community with their wings. They had grappling hooks mounted on their waists, and one of them said, “Who did this?!” 

Everyone but Marco and his allies pointed at the man in the helmet. 

“For attacking and attempting to kill two communities of Kinnises, you shall die!” 

Marco replied, “Oh, I don’t think so!” 

Gunner asked, “How did you learn of when we- er- he attacked the Bullseye?” 

Marco gave a glare at him, but no one could see it through the helmet. Unaware of that, Tyrell replied, “Because it probably made headlines around the country, or at least around the area it happened in. I suspect someone may have changed the channel on one of these TVs to a news channel, and they saw it. I mean, he destroyed a department store in an unorthodox fashion. Of course the news will focus on it!” 

Gunner turned to Tyrell and said, “I wasn’t talking to you!” 

Despite what both the witnesses and the criminals thought, the true purpose of the Kinnises that tried to mimic a show that was more terrifying to them than to most humans was to allow the rest a chance to escape. It worked for them, and the survivors fled as a group. 

Marco said with the same overlay in his voice he had when he put on the helmet at the Bullseye he robbed, “I will leave you with a building you can no longer use.” 

He took off the helmet, and Marco screamed in pain again. 

“The Ice blasts are too cold, and the stacked Nova blasts are too hot! They don’t cancel out, and I can feel both kinds of pain at once! What the fuck was my master thinking?!” He said. 

Marco, Zak, Ollie Gunner, and Tyrell all fled to the former’s modified van, and left right as the cops arrived there. 

One police officer asked the people at the crime scene, “Was this done by the same people that attacked that Bullseye?” 

“Y-yes!” replied a witness who just wanted to bowl for fun. 

“So now he has done multiple criminal charges again. We’ll be more persistent in trying to capture him. I suspect the news will focus on this just like they did to that.” 

As they were driving away, Zak asked, “Marco – er – Mr. Conrad, why are you willing to have so many witnesses?” 

Marco replied, “Go big or go home, baby!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Kinnises underneath a bowling alley are a reference to the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, which has tiny people living in a city under a bowling alley and underneath an arcade. I haven’t listened to it, but I presume Kinnises are way bigger, as the ones there are under just one lane, and mine are under all of them and more.


	7. ThrilLand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To hide from the police, Marco goes into ThrilLand, a hybrid of an amusement park and a zoo.

With police still on his tail from two incidents where Marco committed multiple crimes, he saw a sign saying, “ThrilLand next exit” and he got an idea. He would hide from the cops in there. He didn’t tell his party what his plans were, and he didn’t use turn signals because he thought the cops would cut him off because he would reveal his plans to enemy drivers. 

Once there, he realized that he needed disguises. He saw a clothing store with a silly name, so he decided to steal some hats and long coats. The ones he stole were dark gray and brown so they wouldn’t overheat. He also stole a silly disguise for each of them in the form of fake glasses with no lens and a mustache. 

They put their disguises on, and the coats and hats were quite effective at hiding who they were. 

They had to pay $5 to enter the park, so they assumed the rides were free. They paid for it with money Marco took out of his father’s bank account, which wasn’t much of it. They looked around and realized that not only was it an amusement park, but it was also a zoo. They saw cages everywhere, but didn’t see the animals because they didn’t focus enough. 

Ollie said, “This place reminds me of the titular theme park/zoo in Triassic Garden.” 

They tried to enter lines for a ride called the Mini Cars, but someone stopped them and said, “Er… you need to pay for the rides.” 

Marco angrily spoke some gibberish, but said, “You can’t make me pay to enter the park and also pay per ride!” 

“Uh, we can. And we do. You also have to pay for drinks, food, maps, and umbrellas.” 

“Ugh. Fine.” 

Marco stormed over to an ATM and withdrew enough money for their stay at the park. He gave them each some of the money, went back to the Mini Cars, and paid the $2.40 each ride cost. They found it boring because it was slow, and complained about it once they were done. Someone said, “It’s not a thrill ride.” 

Feeling ashamed of themselves for not realizing that, they wandered over to two mazes. One was called the Mini Maze and cost $1.50 to enter. The other once, known as the Spiral Maze, also cost $1.50. They decided to go on both because Marco withdrew $300, far more than they would use. 

They got lost and were tempted to break a hole in it to escape, but managed to get out. They saw an information kiosk selling umbrellas and maps. They bought a single map to share among all of them, and the first thing they saw when they opened it was a ride called Cycle Monorail 1. Curious, they wandered over there and saw it was like the Mini Cars, but with cars shaped like small helicopters. It cost $2.00, and they paid up. They hoped it would be faster, and were disappointed that it was also slow. 

They looked at the map, and searched for Cycle Monorail 2, but no such ride existed. They asked a worker about where the second one was, and he said, “Uh, I think it’s still being built.” 

“Damn it!” Zak said. 

The next ride they went on was a suspended roller coaster called Flight of the Phoenix. It cost them $5.70, and it was the most thrilling and intense ride they had been on up to that point. There was no fire, but it was still intense for some of them, though others were nauseous afterwards. 

After Flight of the Phoenix was over, they found a water ride where guests rode in log flume boats, and it was called Logger’s Revenge. It cost $4.60. 

“That’s pretty damn expensive! Though not as much as Flight of the Phoenix.” Marco said. Kids stared at him and the other men, learning a new swear word. On the ride, it was not as exciting as Flight of the Phoenix, but it was still more exciting than most of the rides they had been on. The next ride they were on was called Mischief. It was a wooden roller coaster that cost each of them $6.40. 

“That’s even more fucking expensive than both Flight of the Phoenix and Logger’s Revenge!” Marco said, not caring that he was teaching kids swears. Despite that, he had enough money, so they decided to go on it anyway. It was more exciting than Flight of the Phoenix and Logger’s Revenge, though it was also more intense, especially to some of them, and some of the other people riding with them vomited once they got off. 

All that walking made the five fugitives hungry and thirsty, so they stopped at a pizza stall. 

“We want 10,434 pizzas!” Marco said. 

Boulderfist said, “By the time we’d finish the last one, the first one would likely get cold.” 

“It was a joke.” 

They ordered a single pizza topped with pepperoni, sausage, onions, mushroom, olives, and peppers. They split its eight slices among each other. Marco got two slices, Zak got three, and Ollie, Tyrell, and Gunner each got one. 

They still needed drinks, so they stopped by a drinks stall. As it turned out, it only sold cola. They ordered one can for each of them, and they liked it. 

They saw and went to a souvenir stall selling cuddly toys and umbrellas. Tyrell bought a cuddly toy from them, and when the others in the party questioned him about why he, a grown man, would buy such a thing, he became defensive. 

They decided to go on another wooden roller coaster called Woodchip. It cost each of them $5.90, and it was more intense than thrilling, so they were not happy with it. 

They decided to focus more on the zoo part of it, and they examined each of the animal cages more closely. There were animals like buffalo, lions, warthogs, African elephants, Asian elephants, bison, black bears, moose, grizzly bears, gray wolves, chimpanzees, gorillas, tigers, polar bears, and emperor penguins in cages. They looked to have the ground type, water type, foliage, shelter, and type and number of rocks that matched what was in their natural environment. Even though Gunner was working with felons and may have been one himself, he couldn’t help but feel happy that the animals were in exhibits that looked accurate, along with them being happy and healthy. 

Right after they walked past the emperor penguin enclosure, they saw a water ride called Ropey Rapids. They wandered closer, and they saw that they had to pay $3.60 for it. However, before they went on it, Marco noticed a poster saying “WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE” and had what he presumed to be a photo of his group someone took. Instead of the word “DEAD” it had the word “ALIVE” stapled over it, evidently taken from another one of these posters and stapled on. He fled the park, followed by his confused but obedient party, who ran to keep up with them. When he got back to their van, police were investigating it, having already found several illegal weapons. Boulderfist attacked them, stole their guns, and threw them to Ollie. He caught them and shot the cops, confirming that Marco was not the only felon among them. 

They eventually got their van and weapons back. They were only missing one thing- ammo. Ollie had used the last of the ammo they still had, and the rest of it had been confiscated. 

“That’s it! We’re buying ammo at Crawl-Nut! They have guns there, so they likely also sell ammo!” Marco said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The clothing store with a silly name is supposed to be Soup, a real-life clothing store. I chose it because of the meme “I’m at Soup!” from Code MENT, an abridged version of the anime Code GEASS. If you’re not familiar, look it up on YouTube.
> 
> There was going to be a full story focusing on what eventually got the name ThrilLand, but I scrapped it, though I wanted to keep the idea. That idea is a combination of an amusement park and a zoo. Unlike Jurassic Park, where the animals are recreated all prehistoric life, it just uses modern animals because it would take a billionaire to recreate dinosaurs. I decided I wanted there to be another break from the intense action, even though this is an adult rated story. It is a “hybrid” park/zoo because it has gate admission and ride admission. It uses both because it’s an ambitious idea that requires a lot of money to pay the workers, keep the animals happy and healthy, and keep the rides in working condition.
> 
> Most of the rides are taken from pre-built rides in RollerCoaster Tycoon, and I got their prices by combining 90% of the approximate excitement stat in the game with 10% of the approximate intensity stat in the game. I rounded to the nearest tenth to get the price.
> 
> The reason why I chose for the pizza in ThrilLand to have the toppings it did was a reference to the minigame that plays when you boot up the sixth Five Nights at Freddy’s game for the first time, where you can add all of those toppings, some of them, or none of them to your pizza.
> 
> The number of pizzas in the joke being 10,434 is a reference to the SMG4 video "Return to Freddy's Spaghettiria," where Withered Chica tries to order that many pizzas, which comes to 1,034,523 coins, but she uses Mario's card, which has just 24 coins on it.


	8. Preparation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco gets some ammo, goes back to his base, and explains how he learned of Kinnises and why he loathes them.

Once Marco and his party were on the road again after fleeing ThrilLand because of the wanted poster of them, they noticed that not only were police cars and police helicopters both after them, but due to attacking people on interstate roads, the FBI was now after him and his party. He used a GPS to find the nearest Crawl-Nut location. It was a Super Crawl-Nut, made where a Super Bullseye once stood when that store couldn’t support itself anymore. 

Once the five felons arrived at the Super Crawl-Nut, they legally bought bullets for Ollie and his machine gun because it ran on bullets used for pistols, rifle ammo for the assault rifle, and shotgun shells for the normal and double barreled shotguns. They heard the sounds of whips and assumed that the employers were lashing their own employees. 

They also saw canned peas of the brand “Eat Peas!” and canned corn from the same makers of the brand, which had the name “Eat Corn!” He also saw a bottle of wine called “Savage Wine” They saw a TV playing Foxy Nooz, and the tagline of that news network was, “The propaganda wing of the Republican Party!” 

This tagline was quite accurate due to the fact that Foxy Nooz leaned quite heavily towards the right-wing, which meant that they were conservative when it came to politics. They were also kind of unreliable and had issues with being extreme, though they were a real news source better than fake news sources of both the satirical and hoax variety. 

Marco and his party bought the canned vegetables, checked them out, and got back in his modified van. His helmet had a message, and when he put it on, his master said, “I know what you want to do, but I want to be the one to kill your enemy, along with the tiny boy she took in. So don’t!” 

Marco took it off and said to his party, “I’m ready to get revenge on that bitch and her family, including the tiny freak she has the audacity to call her ‘brother!’” 

Fortunately for the Newman family but unfortunately for Marco and his party, San Lajen was on the opposite side of the country from where he was, so the party had to stay at motels during the drive there. During the first night of the journey, Marco heard a sinister voice in his head different from that of his master. The voice said, “I know you have defied your master’s orders.” 

“...Yeah. He can’t hear us, right?” 

“Correct. He is unaware of this conversation. I have a deal for you to gain the power to rival your former master. I can make it so that, once you die, you don’t end up in Everrot-” 

Marco said, “What is that?” 

The voice said, “There are three possible places a mortal soul can end up in the afterlife. Good mortals end up in Zahky, which is the best place to end up. Mortals that are neither good nor evil end up in Unthyr, which is a place of boredom and dullness, but not suffering. Evil mortals end up in Everrot, the worst place to end up. While Zahky and Everrot are molded different ways based on their nature, Unthyr cannot be molded by mortals. You are most likely doomed to Everrot. However, I have a deal that can make it so you won’t go to Everrot when you die. Instead, you’ll end up somewhere else in Spri, the spirit world that is a counterpart to Mae, the world of matter that most, if not all of what you know exists in. You would become a fiend upon death, and you could regain a physical form by possessing your own corpse after your death. It’s like living twice, only the second time can potentially last forever.” 

Aware of how that could go against him, he asked, “What’s the price?” 

The voice replied, “You need to offer me 1,000 platinum coins, 10,000 gold coins, 20,000 electrum coins, 100,000 silver coins, and 1,000,000 copper coins. By the way, a single coin weighs about a third of an ounce, so 50 coins weight a pound. Due to the exchange rates, all of those values of those kinds of coins are equal to each other.” 

“We don’t use those anymore. We mostly use paper money, at least in this, the most glorious of countries.” 

“As an alternative, you can offer your soul.” 

“I’ll find a way to get all that wealth, then hand it to you. I will not offer my soul!” 

“How long will it take to get that money?” 

“I don’t know yet. But I’m not making any contracts for now. Contact me every night like this so I can keep updating you.” 

It took many days for Marco to get to Zaslas, from where he would get to San Lajen, a suburb of that city. He decided to make some preparation at his base, but he forgot to tell his party that their next stop wouldn’t be his target. 

“This doesn’t look like a suburb,” said Ollie when Marco arrived at his base. 

“That’s because it’s not. It’s my base. I’ll try to rely on the element of surprise against her, so don’t you fucking dare send threats to her!” 

Zak said, “You never told us where she lived.” 

“Oh. She lives at 242 Conifer Drive in San Lajen. I know because I broke into there once to kidnap the tiny freak I left to die, but she found and took in. I learned that address because my master said it to me.” 

Gunner asked, “Why do you even hate her to begin with?” 

“She hit me in the balls! I could tell she was holding back, so I can still literally fuck a woman and get her pregnant, but it hurt!” 

“I can imagine it would.” 

“Also, she beat me in a fight despite having far less money than me. That isn’t right. I should be better that her by default!” 

Ollie asked, “Boss, why do you loathe those mouse fairies?” 

Marco replied, “Because they defy categorization like the freaks that they are! They look like tiny humans, but have tails and insect like wings that are not one to one with any kind of insect’s wings! No vertebrate is supposed to have more than four limbs, and their wings are not like those of any other vertebrate! In regards to their tails, since humans and apes had a common ancestor and both lack tails, why would an entire species so much like a human get tails?! And those tails are not like those of mice or rats because they are smooth instead of hairy, furry, slimy, or scaly! Another point that makes them defy being categorized by science is the ears of those mouse fairies! Why are they so much like those of mice, yet are colored gray in contrast to those of any rodent species I know of?!” 

Tyrell asked, “How did you even learn of them, anyway?” 

Marco replied, “The year was 2007. It was the middle of summer. Out of nowhere, photos of those freaks flooded Fakebook and MyFace! I couldn’t stand it because I thought those were fakes! When I learned that they were real, I was even more upset because of how much they defied being categorized like every other animal in the world!” 

All five of them heard police sirens and realized he and his party had been sitting ducks, so they rushed to the modified van and fled the base, starting the drive to San Lajen with the police and FBI teaming up to try to catch him…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The events of 2007, as Marco described them, happened during the final chapter of Not Just One. So all of the horrible things that Marco does to Kinnises can be considered the consequence of Berg’s actions.
> 
> And the coins are based on the default five types listed in the D&D 5e Player's Handbook.


	9. Marco's Revenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Defying the orders of his master, Marco strikes the Newman family's house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the finale of the Kinnis Universe! That's my name for the universe that Hopeful Future, Lucky Discovery, Not Just One, and Washington, Death Count all take place in.

Marco decided to strike against Dawn Newman in direct defiance of his master’s orders. He knew that she lived in 242 Conifer Drive from when he kidnapped Edo. He decided to rely on surprise, not making threats to her until he got there. 

Back at the Newman family household, Dawn was not in a good spot in regards to her emotional state of mind. Sara was looking outside, and she saw a van with several modifications that she assumed were not all legal pull up. She was curious, but once she saw men armed with lethal weapons, she rushed to the front door to lock it. She ran to the back door and locked that as well. 

Marco said, “Mother of the bitch!” 

Sara replied, “What the fuck did you just call me?!” 

Dawn and Edo heard the van pull up, so she looked out the window and saw Marco with some allies. She was panicking from not only the sight of the man who kidnapped her little brother and tried to kill her when she tried to rescue him, but also from the fact that he had made allies. 

Dawn said, “What do I do?!” She decided that the best course of action was to barricade the door and keep her window shut. 

“Knock knock, bitches!” Marco said. 

Sara replied, “If you want to harm my kids, you’ll have to go through me!” 

“Boulderfist! Hit her with one of your weapons!” 

“Will do, master!” 

He broke down the door, breaching one of her kids’ lines of defense. She started fighting him, having no other choice. In a similar way to her daughter when she was running out of energy in her fight with Marco, Sara gained a burst of energy, power, durability, and speed, doubling it. She managed to fight evenly with him, but won when she kneed him in the dick. 

“She’s stronger than I thought, Master! I’ll get back in the car!” 

Sara lost her mysterious power, and she went up the stairs to block the way to her kids. 

Marco said, “Damn it! I’m not targeting you, ma’am! I only want your bastard daughter and that inhuman freak you call your son!” 

He decided to try to make a human stack so he could get to the window in Dawn’s room so he could get in. He somehow managed to do it, though the rest of them fell down after he got onto the roof. He used his baseball bat to break the window, and he got in. Dawn did not want to fight him, be killed by him, or lose her little brother to this man, who became a serial killer since the last time they saw each other in person. 

“I’ve been waiting a long time for this, bitch!” Marco said with a sadistic grin on his face. He aimed his shotgun at them, and since Dawn was holding Edo close to her chest, he aimed there so he could kill two enemies with less shots. 

They all heard a voice from downstairs saying, “This is the FBI! We would say ‘Open up!’ But the door’s already broken down!” 

Dawn used the momentary distraction to move between her poorly made barricade and the door. She crawled down with one hand while holding her brother in the other, got up quickly to open the door, and ran downstairs. She opened the door, and she shouted, “There’s a serial killer in my bedroom upstairs!” 

“We know, little girl.” 

“I’m not little anymore! I’m 14!” 

“Yeah, but you’re still a minor.” 

Dawn knew they were right, so she stopped arguing and moved aside, moving close to her mother so they could listen for what happened. They saw two agents go upstairs, and she heard one of them say, “Put down the shotgun and come with us. Shooting us will add ‘attempted murder of FBI agents’ to your list of criminal offenses.” 

They heard Marco shout, “If Congress and the President are listening, tell them I have demands: Pass a law or executive order labeling the tiny people with dragonfly wings, mouse ears and tails as pests that should be exterminated to extinction. If they refuse, then I’ll kill every federal Representative, Senator, and, Cabinet member, as well as the Vice President and the President!” 

They heard tackling, swear words, thumping, and other sounds, and they saw them carry back the restrained Marco downstairs. As the FBI was leaving, Marco said, “You haven’t seen the last of me, Newman!” 

Wanting to get her mind off of the possibility of him coming back for a third encounter, she asked her mom, “He called me a bastard!” 

“… Not in front of your brother! Don’t say that word, Edo.” 

The tiny boy, still in the now loosened grip of his adoptive older sister, said, “I learned some other new words today, but I get the feeling that some of them are rude to say.” 

“Good. And Dawn? If he said that just to swear at you, I’d be opposed to it, but that word also means an illegitimate child. I never married your father, as once the pregnancy test came back positive, he broke up with me. I don’t know where he is now, but I doubt he’d recognize you as his daughter, especially because our family name is different from his.” 

Sara noticed that Edo’s tail was wagging like that of a dog even though it looked more like the tail of a mouse. His wings also fluttered. She asked, “My precious son, what’s gotten you so happy?” 

“The thought that I’ll be safe from that man!” 

Dawn noticed both of those and asked, “Brother, has your tail always done that when you’re happy?” 

“Yep! It also reacts to other emotions as well.” 

Sara said, “Just like the tail of a dog, even though yours is longer and thinner than what I imagine a dog’s tail to be like. I suppose that would give Kinnises a tougher time with gambling.” 

Dawn said, “Mom? How did you learn of his species’ name?” 

“Oh. Zineas appeared to me at work and explained it. She says she’s a goddess and that you two know her personally.” 

“She has shown her physical form to us, yes. The day you met Edo, we were talking with him. You heard us, but… did you hear her?” 

“Nope. I assumed you were having a conversation with Edo.” 

Marco was arrested, and Zak, Ollie, Gunner, and Tyrell were also arrested due to being accomplices. He tried to get access to his father’s bank account so he could withdraw enough money to bribe his way to being acquitted, but his father had changed the password. He used a phone in the prison to call his father and ask about it. 

“You! My own son! You were the one to make a lot of withdrawals from my bank account! Why the hell did you make so many?!” 

“Uh… bribes, illegal modifications to automobiles, weapons, ammo, and ThrilLand entry, rides, food, drink, and a cuddly toy for one of my party members.” 

“That’s why I changed the password. You’re stealing my money and using it for nefarious purposes, and I can’t have you do that. See if you get acquitted now! … I really should have paid better attention to you when you were a kid.” 

Marco recognized the CEO of Crawl-Nut in jail with him. He said, “Mr. Lived, is that you?” 

“Yes! I was running an efficient business, driving the competition out of business! That’s how capitalism works, right?! Then why the FUCK was I accused of ‘corruption’ and why did the US government shut down Crawl-Nut globally, even in parts of the world outside of its jurisdiction?!” 

This was surprising news to Marco because he did not know that a short time after he bought ammo from one store, Crawl-Nut was eradicated. 

“Well, once I get out of jail, I’ll have to rob every store I want things from. I only shop at Crawl-Nut, and since it’s dead, I’ll never legally buy from a store again!” 

Eventually, the time came for the trial of Marco Conrad and his party. The judge gave them a defense attorney and a jury, but it was clear that the odds were against him even though they were all white men. He didn’t pay much attention to what the lawyers were saying, but paid attention to the jury and their verdict. The verdict was that he was guilty of having illegal modifications on his vehicle, shoplifting, robbery, destruction of property, arson, assault, attempted murder, successful murder, domestic terrorism, and treason. Zak Hill, Ollie Wood, Tyrell Dodson, and Gunner Booker were charged with being accomplices to Marco’s crimes. When the charge of treason was brought up, the four of them pleaded that they were not guilty of treason, though they did not plead innocent for any of the other crimes. 

Marco was sentenced with the death penalty for treason due to his threats against government officials, while Zak, Tyrell, and Gunner did not commit treason by threatening federal government officials and therefore were sentenced to 70 years in jail. Due to Ollie admitting he did the bulk of the murders on the interstate roads under Marco’s orders, he was given a life sentence in a prison. He didn’t know whether it was a state or federal prison, but it didn’t matter because murder was both a state crime and a federal crime. Marco was also charged with murder due to him being the master of the biggest killer and condoning it all. 

While on death row, Marco was panicking. He begged his master for forgiveness and to be allowed to escape. However, he managed to contact the voice who contacted him in the motel, who revealed that they were a fiend, and he had made the deal by offering his soul, so he would become a fiend upon his death. He had already decided what he would look like, and he based it off of the first form of the final boss of a Puray Stay Shin 1 role playing game that made the entire genre more popular outside of Japan. 

On the last day before the day of his execution, his pleas were answered. A spacial rift appeared around Marco, and as it closed, he had left. To those around him, it seemed as if he had disappeared. However, he was very much alive, as his master, who was unaware of the deal Marco had made, had saved his life. 

Marco’s first thoughts when he arrived were being elated at escaping execution, which turned to surprise when he saw what his master looked like. 

He was in a suit of full body armor that revealed none of his natural body. It reminded him of the armor of the heroine of a Ninventont video game franchise wore. However, he had a spike with three sides where the character had her arm cannon. It looked as if it was supposed to be an even shape, but it was not. Instead, its sides had expanded, the top and bottom of it appeared to have moved vertically, and the muzzle had extended forward. In the gaps formed by expansion in those areas, there was what looked to be liquid mercury with visible bolts of electricity. Marco could see five toes with claws on each foot, as well as five fingers with claws on the left hand. He had a thin visor that revealed two pure white eyes and a hole where a nose should be, like a skull. The armor had purple limbs and a red head and torso. The lights on the suit glowed violet, but Marco could still see the eyes through that. His armor had large shoulders, but they were round. He had what looked to be spikes coming from the top of his lower leg, covering his knees. 

The helmet Marco used was in front of him, and he noticed that his was more jagged then that of his master, but otherwise looked like it. He said, “Whoa… is that you, Master?” 

In the same voice he heard when he put the helmet on, the figure replied, “Yes, Marco. I am your master.” 

“I didn’t know you were a robot!” 

“I’m not a robot!” 

“A cyborg?” 

“Wrong!” 

“Are you even a man? Are you a woman with a deep voice?” 

“Fuck no!” 

“Then what the fuck are you?!” 

“Don’t talk like that to your master!! Though, to answer your question… I am a fiend. However, I used to be human, but I am no longer one.” 

“What do you look like under the armor?” 

“This ‘armor’ is part of my body!” 

“How?! It’s technological!!” 

“You would be disturbed by what is underneath my armor, but let me put it this way: It’s like an exoskeleton. It protects me well. If I need more power and/or speed when fighting an enemy, I can dematerialize the armor at will. When I’m unarmored, I have far more power and I’m faster, but I take more damage due to having exposed my internal skeleton and internal organs. I can materialize the armor at will as well. I don’t like being seen unarmored because I want to keep it a surprise to my enemies. I don’t view being seen without armor on as me being seen naked.” 

“By the way, I can change both of my arms to arm cannons and back to normal arms at will. Right now, I have my left arm as a normal arm while my right arm as an arm cannon. What looks to be liquid metal with visible electric shocks is magic mercury loaded with enough electricity to make visible bolts. The magic makes it never spill out despite the opening. Half of it is one degree above its freezing point. The other half is one degree below its boiling point. They don’t cancel each other out or cause pain to me due to additional magic. Despite the way it looks, it does not fire mercury. Instead, it fires a powerful beam weapon. I can charge it to deal more damage than the hefty damage it already deals. It freezes enemies in place when it would kill them, and due to my fiendish magic, they can even stay frozen in midair. It goes through walls, though it becomes weaker as it goes, going away completely 120 feet away from when it was fired and becoming weaker the farther away it gets. That is 40 meters. It also fires in a wave shaped like a sine curve. It is three separate lasers in that wave and shape, and each can hit separate things or the same thing for increased damage. In addition to going through walls, it pierces through enemies.” 

“I can also fire up to five extremely powerful homing missiles at a time and drop up to four small, weak bombs that can either float in midair or be affected by gravity. I can have up to four of those bombs out at a time. Unfortunately, they materialize around where my anus would be. I don’t like that. The arm cannons also have sharp edges and points, letting them deal slashing or piercing damage. I regenerate those missiles over time, so I can’t use too many too soon.” 

“Where are we, anyway?” 

“In my mostly underground base in Antarctica. It uses geothermal energy because it goes underground deep enough to be inside rock instead of inside ice. Its name is Area 53.” 

“Will I get another shot at revenge against those bitches who call themselves the Newman family?” 

“…Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said it was the finale. But there will be more. I promise I will get to it. Before then, though, I will take a break from original fiction for the rest of February and all of March. A new story universe will debut in April...
> 
> (Spoilers for the old Flash game Motherload!) Mr. Lived, the CEO of Crawl-Nut, is like Mr. Natas from Motherload. I had plans for the last name of Mr. Lived to be “Satan” or “Devil” but I decided to reference that game. His last name is meant to be “Devil” backwards. No, he’s not secretly a devil or The Devil. It’s meant to show how evil he is. I didn’t realize when I first typed “Mr. Lived” that “Devil” backwards is a real word. Guess it made it more subtle, until you read this.
> 
> Marco’s master was designed to resemble a cross between four different mimics of Samus Aran from Metroid by Nintendo. The spike for the arm cannon was taken from the Fighting Polygon Team mimic of Samus (from Super Smash Bros. 64). The feet, and hand were taken from Dark Samus as she appears in Metroid Prime 2. The pure white eyes are taken from the SA-X from Metroid Fusion. The thin visor, round shoulders, and spikes covering the knees are all taken from Dark Samus as she appears in Metroid Prime 3. His colors are taken from the Copied Power Suit that appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, or rather, the Subspace Emissary game mode in that game.


End file.
